Padang, Indonesia

A bustling port and university town, attractive PADANG is an important transport hub and famed throughout Indonesia for its spicy local cuisine, Makanan Padang (Padang food). Its climate is equally extreme: hot and humid and with the highest rainfall in Indonesia at 4508mm a year. Most tourists pause only briefly here, before aiming for the nearby hill town of Bukittinggi or the Mentawai Islands. The city's main sight is the very pleasant Adityawarman Museum (Tues– Sun 8.30am–4pm; Rp1500), housed in a traditional Minang house on Jalan Bundo Kandung and specializing in Minangkabau culture, with textiles, kris and finely worked basketware. For a good local shopping experience, ignore the large shopping centres and head instead for Pasar Raya in the city centre, a terrific general market. Bungus Beach, south of Padang, was once a popular tourist destination, but the hotels there are now derelict.